Robinson died in a London Shakur's conviction includes planning the $1.6 million Brinks robbery in Rockland on Oct. 20, 1981. The Boston underworld rumbled with reports that an automobile had pulled alongside OKeefes car in Dorchester, Massachusetts, during the early morning hours of June 5. OKeefe claimed that he left his hotel room in Boston at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950. All denied any knowledge of the alleged incident. Examination by the FBI Laboratory subsequently disclosed that the decomposition, discoloration, and matting together of the bills were due, at least in part, to the fact that all of the bills had been wet. On June 2, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora left Boston by automobile for the alleged purpose of visiting the grave of Guscioras brother in Missouri. Although the attendant did not suspect that the robbery was taking place, this incident caused the criminals to move more swiftly. On the night of January 17, 1952exactly two years after the crime occurredthe FBIs Boston Office received an anonymous telephone call from an individual who claimed he was sending a letter identifying the Brinks robbers. His records showed that he had worked on the offices early in April 1956 under instructions of Fat John. The loot could not have been hidden behind the wall panel prior to that time. All right, he told two FBI agents, what do you want to know?. Livvy standing in the middle of two masked people involved in kidnap gangs. Through the interviews of persons in the vicinity of the Brinks offices on the evening of January 17, 1950, the FBI learned that a 1949 green Ford stake-body truck with a canvas top had been parked near the Prince Street door of Brinks at approximately the time of the robbery. The pair recruited criminal Kenneth Noye, an expert in his field, who Ten of the persons who appeared before this grand jury breathed much more easily when they learned that no indictments had been returned. Allegedly, other members of the Brinks gang arranged for OKeefe to be paid a small part of the ransom he demanded, and Costa was released on May 20, 1954. Prominent among the other strong suspects was Vincent James Costa, brother-in-law of Pino. WebThe series stars Hugh Bonneville as Brian Boyce, the detective chief inspector on the case, and the cast also includes Jack Lowden, Adam Nagaitis, Tom Cullen and Dominic This man claimed to have no knowledge of Pinos involvement in the Brinks robbery.). The eight men were sentenced by Judge Forte on October 9, 1956. And the gang felt that the chances of his talking were negligible because he would be implicated in the Brinks robbery along with the others. Each robbers face was completely concealed behind a Halloween-type mask. Approximately one and one-half hours later, Banfield returned with McGinnis. Members of the Purple Gang of the 1930s found that there was renewed interest in their activities. During questioning by the FBI, the money changer stated that he was in business as a mason contractor with another man on Tremont Street in Boston. In addition, although violent dissension had developed within the gang, there still was no indication that any of the men were ready to talk. Based on the available information, however, the FBI felt that OKeefes disgust was reaching the point where it was possible he would turn against his confederates. After completing its hearings on January 9, 1953, the grand jury retired to weigh the evidence. Less than $60,000 of the more than $2.7 million stolen would ever be recovered. Local officers searched their homes, but no evidence linking them with the truck or the robbery was found. WebNahome was a "financer" and associate of the Adams family, who were also suspected of having been involved in the laundering of the Brink's-Mat gold. Following their arrests, a former bondsman in Boston made frequent trips to Towanda in an unsuccessful effort to secure their release on bail. After continuing up the street to the end of the playground which adjoined the Brinks building, the truck stopped. This cooler contained more than $57,700, including $51,906 which was identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. (Following pleas of guilty in November 1956, Fat John received a two-year sentence, and the other two men were sentenced to serve one years imprisonment. A few weeks later, OKeefe retrieved his share of the loot. Only $58,000 of the $2.7 million was recovered. He was paroled in the fall of 1944 and remained on parole through March 1954 when misfortune befell him. (Investigation to substantiate this information resulted in the location of the proprietor of a key shop who recalled making keys for Pino on at least four or five evenings in the fall of 1949. Even after these convictions, OKeefe and Gusciora continued to seek their release. Another old gang that had specialized in hijacking bootlegged whiskey in the Boston area during Prohibition became the subject of inquiries. Adolph Maffie was convicted and sentenced to nine months for income tax evasion. Although Gusciora was acquitted of the charges against him in Towanda, he was removed to McKean County, Pennsylvania, to stand trial for burglary, larceny, and receiving stolen goods. O'Keefe received four years and was released in 1960. The most important of these, Specs OKeefe, carefully recited the details of the crime, clearly spelling out the role played by each of the eight defendants. Fat John announced that each of the packages contained $5,000. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. Thorough inquiries were made concerning the disposition of the bags after their receipt by the Massachusetts firm. The alibi was strong, but not conclusive. After O'Keefe was released he was taken to stand trial for another burglary and parole violations and was released on a bail of $17,000. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. After the truck parts were found, additional suspicion was attached to these men. Considerable thought was given to every detail. They were checked against serial numbers of bills known to have been included in the Brinks loot, and it was determined that the Boston criminal possessed part of the money that had been dragged away by the seven masked gunmen on January 17, 1950. The fiber bags used to conceal the pieces were identified as having been used as containers for beef bones shipped from South America to a gelatin manufacturing company in Massachusetts. For example, from a citizen in California came the suggestion that the loot might be concealed in the Atlantic Ocean near Boston. OKeefe had no place to keep so large a sum of money. Before fleeing with the bags of loot, the seven armed men attempted to open a metal box containing the payroll of the General Electric Company. Since Brinks was located in a heavily populated tenement section, many hours were consumed in interviews to locate persons in the neighborhood who might possess information of possible value. Pino was known in the underworld as an excellent case man, and it was said that the casing of the Brinks offices bore his trademark.. The money inside the cooler which was concealed in the wall of the Tremont Street office was wrapped in plastic and newspaper. WebBrian Robinson was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison. On June 5 and June 7, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the three mencharging them with several state offenses involving their possessing money obtained in the Brinks robbery. Some of the bills were in pieces. THE brains behind the 26million Brinks-Mat bullion robbery has died penniless. When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. Adding to these problems was the constant pressure being exerted upon Pino by OKeefe from the county jail in Towanda, Pennsylvania. After these plans were reviewed and found to be unhelpful, OKeefe and Gusciora returned them in the same manner. When the pieces of the 1949 green Ford stake-body truck were found at the dump in Stoughton on March 4, 1950, additional emphasis was placed on the investigations concerning them. He was certain he would be considered a strong suspect and wanted to begin establishing an alibi immediately.) There was Adolph Jazz Maffie, one of the hoodlums who allegedly was being pressured to contribute money for the legal battle of OKeefe and Gusciora against Pennsylvania authorities. An automobile identified as the car used in the escape was located near a Boston hospital, and police officers concealed themselves in the area. At the time of the Brinks robbery, Geagan was on parole, having been released from prison in July 1943, after serving eight years of a lengthy sentence for armed robbery and assault. It was later claimed that most of O'Keefe's share went to his legal defense. He received a one-year sentence for this offense; however, on January 30, 1950, the sentence was revoked and the case was placed on file.. [13] Most of the cash stolen was in denominations of $1 to $20, which made it nearly impossible to trace the bills through serial numbers. That prison term, together with Pinos conviction in March 1928 for carnal abuse of a girl, provided the basis for the deportation action. Later, when he counted the money, he found that the suitcase contained $98,000. The robbery. And what of McGinnis himself? After a couple of attempts he hired underworld hitman Elmer "Trigger" Burke to kill O'Keefe. From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. OKeefe was sentenced to three years in Bradford County Jail and Gusciora to 5-to-20 years in the Western State Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. Many other types of information were received. Continuous investigation, however, had linked him with the gang. On the afternoon of August 28, 1954, Trigger Burke escaped from the Suffolk County jail in Boston, where he was being held on the gun-possession charge arising from the June 16 shooting of OKeefe. The gang at that time included all of the participants in the January 17, 1950, robbery except Henry Baker. Of the hundreds of New England hoodlums contacted by FBI agents in the weeks immediately following the robbery, few were willing to be interviewed. Before the robbers could take him prisoner, the garage attendant walked away. McGinnis had been arrested at the site of a still in New Hampshire in February 1954. When this case was continued until April 1, 1954, OKeefe was released on $1,500 bond. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. Seven months later, however, he was again paroled. Shortly before 7:30 p.m., they were surprised by five menheavily disguised, quiet as mice, wearing gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints and soft shoes to muffle noise. Faherty had been questioned on the night of the robbery. On January 12, 1956, just five days before the statute of limitations was to run out, the FBI arrested Baker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pino. Shortly after 6.40am, six armed robbers in balaclavas entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport belonging to security company Brinks-Mat. Police heard through their informers that O'Keefe and Gusciora demanded money from Pino and MacGinnis in Boston to fight their convictions. At least four movies were based, or partially based, on the Great Brink's Robbery: Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}422202N 710327W / 42.3672N 71.0575W / 42.3672; -71.0575. WebLASD confirmed this was not a typical Brinks armored car seen in a city environment. As the loot was being placed in bags and stacked between the second and third doors leading to the Prince Street entrance, a buzzer sounded. The serial numbers of several of these bills were furnished to the FBI Office in Baltimore. The FBI further learned that four revolvers had been taken by the gang. It was at the time the largest robbery in the history of the United States, and has been called "the crime of the century". Both OKeefe and Gusciora had been interviewed on several occasions concerning the Brinks robbery, but they had claimed complete ignorance.
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